World-wide energy consumption continues to increase at a significant rate. Many potentially useful energy sources such as nuclear, coal and some alternative energy sources are limited by governmental, societal, and/or technological barriers. As demand for energy increases, identification and development of new and suitable forms for energy storage and distribution becomes an increasingly important area of research. Hydrogen and/or some synthesis gas conversion products, e.g., methanol, higher alcohols, dimethyl ether, hydrocarbon fuels, etc., provide very promising options for replacement of most existing energy carriers. The economy of mass production of such products and chemicals depends greatly on the efficiency of processes used for their synthesis. Current options for production of these compounds are often limited by poor scalability, poor selectivity, multiple reaction and/or processing stages, and other challenges.
Therefore, devices and methods which improve selectivity and/or yields of a wide variety of synthesis processes would be a significant advancement in the area of chemical synthesis.